ACEP President Paul Kivela, MD, MBA, FACEP, President-Elect John Rogers, MD, FACEP, and ACEP staff met with leaders of the American Society of Anesthesiologists to discuss their sedation polices and potential impact on emergency medicine practice. They also discussed collaboration and strategies to ensure reasonable out-of-network reimbursement.

In late December, Dr. Rogers and ACEP Associate Executive Director for Public Affairs Laura Wooster met with representatives of Anthem to discuss Anthem’s policy to deny payment for patient visits to the emergency department in several states, which ACEP contends is in violation of federal and state law protecting patients, according to the prudent layperson standard.

In December, ACEP’s Board held its annual strategic planning meeting. The Board discussed many issues that impact the specialty, including ways to overcome challenges to fair reimbursement, how to enhance ACEP’s engagement with members on social media, quality measures and CEDR, the care of patients with mental health disorders, and how to seek improved relations with other emergency medicine organizations.